It was said by MyKrsnaGuru that traveling this path would be difficult and it is – very difficult.
There is an inner struggle to keep the mind from running wild, as it machinates responses to situations from the past and to situations which will never actually occur. Likewise, there is a struggle to keep the mind from dragging my faith through the dark cloud of illusion.
“Sri Bhagavan said: I consider them to be the best Yogis, who endowed with supreme faith, and ever united through meditation with Me, worship Me with their mind centred on Me.” (The Bhagavad Gita Chapter 12, V2)
As one who paints and draws, my mind can be centered for hours at a time. My teacher, KrsnaKnows told me last year that the act of painting was a form of meditation for me. Even though the ability to focus is there in me, countless times throughout the day my thoughts take me on a make-believe journey. It starts with a single idea and then the mind jumps around going down many extended paths until finally, I’ll notice the excursion and bring my mind back to the single idea. The quickest way to bring my mind back to center is saying the name of the Lord, “Krsna”.
When my worldly life seems overrun with negativity and my heart feels drained, or should I become too elated with joy, I have only to repeat His name to center myself And when my mind runs away again, I repeat His name. The mind, while running wild, sparks many flickers of illusions that casts doubts. But God is always with me, even at those times when the mind is so cluttered illusion that I feel separate from God. The sadness and loneliness of separation is just illusion.
Krsna is Love and can always be found when sincerely searching for Him. In this life, Lord Krsna is here with me in the blessed form of my teacher, KrsnaKnows. Graced with Faith in my Guru and engaged in His teaching, my mind slowly gets trained to take only the journey that God has laid out for me.
